Desperately needing to
recover from the devastating defeat by the USA, England gave their all
against Spain and produced a tremendous performance which lacked only one
ingredient - goals. The team knew they had to beat the Spaniards to
qualify for the next stage of the tournament, but sadly 'Lady Luck'
refused to smile on them.

England brought Stan Matthews, flown in from FA's tour of Canada, and
Jackie Milburn into a reorganised forward line and gave debuts to Eddie
Baily and Bill Eckersely.

The new-look front
line was a constant danger to the Spanish defence and with just a hint of
good fortune they could easily have by two or three goals. A big crowd
watched the game and saw a fine performance from the English. Spain seemed
obsessed with underhand tactics and they continually felled the England
players. Alas, the Italian referee preferred to turn a blind eye to all
that went on and offered no punishment.

England could and should
have had two penalties when Tom Finney was twice sent sprawling in the
area. Again the referee gave nothing. Stan Mortensen, Milburn and Baily
all showed up well as England put together some neat passing movements,
whilst Finney and Matthews showed all their ball skills on the wings. All
the time though the main stumbling block for England was Ramellets in the
Spanish goal. He was outstanding and time and again he thwarted the eager
England attack.

As the match entered the second half the crowd
became more and more frustrated by Spain's dubious tactics and they
certainly sided with the England players. But five minutes into the half
Spain went ahead. Their outside-left made a fine run and centred for the
number-nine Zarraonandia to beat Bert Williams and score.

England
continued to give everything and were desperately unlucky not to pull the
goal back. Their only consolation was the winning back of their
self-respect and the ovation from the crowd as they trooped off at the
end.

Match Report
by Norman Giller

England needed to win this match to stay in
the World Cup following their embarrassing defeat by the USA. Spain took
the lead through centre-forward Zarra in the forty-seventh minute and then
dropped back into deep defence. Even with Matthews and Finney operating,
England could not make the breakthrough and their World Cup challenge was
over. Jackie Milburn had a legitimate-looking equaliser ruled off-side.
Alf Ramsey and Bill Eckersley started a fifteen-match full-back
partnership, and Tottenham pass master Eddie Baily got a long over-due
cap. Tom Finney was tripped twice in the penalty area, but each time the
referee waved play on. It was one of those games, one of those
tournaments. England played their best football of the finals against
Spain, but their finishing left a lot to be desired. Eddie Baily had a
cracking debut, and his passing cut huge holes in the Spanish defence.
Stan Mortensen and Jackie Milburn might have had a couple of goals each
but for some brilliant saves by Barcelona goalkeeper Ramallets. Tom Finney
was the most mild mannered of men, but even he got heated when the referee
ignored our claims for penalties after Tom had twice been fouled. How
different it might have been had Neil Franklin not defected to the outlaw
league in Colombia. Losing him robbed England's defence of the composure
they had built up over the previous four years.